Sol 5.6

  1. By God, O Ranj: nothing but disgrace!

    And our acceptance of his efforts is sheer recklessness.

  2. For the nation of Ya‘rub to keep silent about his right

    is unbelief—and the abode of unbelievers is the Fire.

  3. I disavow the mutual desertion of a nation

    that imperious passion has never ceased to rule.

  4. Whenever a grievous calamity befalls it,

    all its reactions amount to mere denunciation.

  5. The deepest humiliation was imposed upon it, yet it did not

    recoil from the ugliness of abasement, though it is utter degradation.

  6. The soul grew accustomed to indignity, then imagined

    that indignity was tranquility and dignity.

  7. I make no claim here to heroism and sacrifice

    while over there the ever-charging knight has fled.

  8. I favor no homeland over another,

    for Ya‘rub and Nizar have become alike.

  9. Forgive me: my nation is not that nation

    which arrogance has turned away from its faith.

  10. Arabness is noble pride and valor—

    rather: purity, magnanimity, and honor defended.

  11. When Arabness holds fast to true guidance,

    it rises, and the decrees of fate bless its striving.

  12. The Almighty looks forth from His exalted height;

    and when the Almighty turns His gaze toward it,

  13. it wins a victory that leaves no homeland

    without traces of glory within it.

  14. If I take pride in the ancient past, it is only because

    from its light all other lights kindle their flame.

  15. Through this faith we were the mightiest nation,

    and the chastest people the lands had known,

  16. until the multitude foolishly strayed

    from its faith, and the wicked came to rule them.

  17. My sorrow—and more of it—is of no avail;

    surely the discerning mind is bewildered by our plight.

  18. It is as though, in our abasement, we were the Jews,

    while our adversaries—those very men—were the Ansar.

  19. Were it not for the fedayee who bore death

    in his palm when vengeance called him,

  20. and went forth paving our road with his blood—

    for the righteous are indeed worthy of martyrdom—

  21. you would have seen us in a pitiable state,

    a state from whose horror all eyes turn away.

  22. The Jews have ravaged my nation with humiliation, and no

    reactionary force has risen, nor any revolutionaries.

Sol 5.6